as
good meat; while it is far easier to take too much meat than it is to
consume too much cheese." Naturally as age advances the allowance of
both should be materially reduced.
The
maxim of shrewd old George Cheyne is well worth practical pursuance by
every man who is getting on in years : " Every wise man after fifty
ought to begin to lessen the quantity of his aliment; and, if he would
continue free of great, and dangerous, distempers, and preserve his
senses, and faculties clear to the last, he ought every seven years to
go on abating gradually, and sensibly ; and at last descend out of life
as he ascended into it, even into the child's diet."
Good
cheese made of whole milk consists of about one-third water, one-third
fat, one-quarter casein, the remainder being salts, including highly
useful phosphates. Soft cheeses, such as Camembert, Brie, and Port du
Salut, are specially easy of digestion; because during the ripening of
these cheeses a free formation occurs of " albumoses, and peptones,"
which are necessary products, (usually by early stages of digestion
within the stomach), before the albuminous constituents become
available for nourishing the system. But the most difficult cheeses to
be attacked by the gastric juices for digestion are those made from
wholly, or partly, skimmed milk. Among such are Dutch cheeses, the soft
milk cheeses made in our Midland Counties, and sometimes Gruyere. With
the exception of skim cheeses like these, it would be misleading to say
that any one particular variety is more digestible, or more
indigestible, than another. All depends on the state of ripeness.
" A raw, fresh cheese should be avoided ; or, if eaten, it should have the most thorough, and patient mastica-
